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Friday, January 31, 2014

Remember last Friday when it was an Ice Day? That was cool.
No pun intended until it was already there on the screen in front of me. And then I left it there.

Most definitely, problemsofanerdtumblr. Most definitely.

Started this with my 3rd grade enrichment group. The first weeks of January we learned a little bit about several topics they chose ... just to sort of see what was out there. The last couple days we've been narrowing those topics down. So far it's going pretty well. Like anything we have a couple kiddos that have really taken off with it, a couple kiddos who use their time in school well, and a couple that it's a constant "are you using your time" questionfest. Will keep you posted! Some of the topics are origami, visiting Paris, cooking, and ghost towns. Had a couple that wanted to do "build a delorian" or "how to build rockets" or "learn how to match lights with music" (a la "What does the Fox say" Halloween lights) but we had to postpone those.

Because it made me laugh. I Want my Hat Back is still a favorite. My awesome clipboard disappeared ... either in the summer packing up of the library or in the move of my house. I cannot figure it out. If it was at school what else am I missing (besides the Pete one as well!) that I can't even remember? Or at home, actually. Pigeon is still around at least.

A funny again!

The narrator's voice is a little ... not what I hear in my head, anyway. But this is AWESOME. I love stop motion. My one attempt (that, oddly, has disappeared from YouTube) took forever and it was only three minutes. Angie O's pin on Pinterest.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Yes because we've gone more mobile ... and that's mostly awesome. Thousands more reference sources available now in a device the size of my hand. Keyword searching instead of index searching and multivolume searching (or the ... what was it called ... Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature?). Love Pebble Go. Kids that can't necessarily read independently can still conduct basic research ... and if they can't write what they learned they draw it. World Book. BrainPop, Jr. Kids that struggle to read at their interest or "age" level can listen to an audiobook. Kids can download library books from home on a day when there's no school (yes, I do realize a lot of them don't have computer access ... but more and more even if there's no full on computer at home there's at least a smartphone!).

No because Oh My Word when tech doesn't work it makes things difficult. Things that should be SIMPLE are not because of ridiculous network or hardware issues. I'm an idealist, I'm sure. I feel like at school things should function and not always be a fight. If they don't work it should be fixed. I can be patient once or twice or even three times with issues. But "be patient" for the eighteenth time (by people who sit in an office and don't work with kids) over problems that make it harder for teachers? How can I ask them over and over "Try this! Try this!" when they are told "don't try to use apps that require wifi because you don't have it" or it takes 15 of their 30 minutes in the computer lab just to get kids logged in to the network (and it's not because the kiddos don't know their passwords)? At home it will work. Try it there. :/

Yes because I learn more. A lot of my PD is delivered via tech ... webinars or blogs or YouTube videos or digital library books. Most of the face to face I get is ... not always what my students or staff need me to offer.
No because though I own two digital e-readers ... given the choice I still choose a hard copy title. And that's still a major portion of our collection.
So there you go. Not super eloquent but it's Thursday night and the cedar count cannot go down fast enough. :P

Friday, January 24, 2014

It's an ICE DAY! This has not happened in three years so big news.
Also it's a year since I was in so much pain I caved and went to the hospital. Eight hours later I had my appendix out and then felt so much better. Though not as interesting as my teacher friend had twins yesterday, the same day Kid President released this video.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Used to be Google Reader but then Google took it away and neither Bloglovin nor Feedly are filling the gap. Which makes no sense because none of those sites actually created the useful content. You awesome blog writers did! The sites were just the way in which I accessed the info.

You know what I'm going to say now, don't you. YOU KNOW IT. How do I access a lot of it now?

Pinterest. It's a double-edged sword because it can get distracting with non-school library related fluff. But there's so much GREAT school library stuff to be found on there, too! And a much easier way to FIND said stuff than via Google. More focused and of course with the handy image preview.

I used to keep my boards pretty chunked together ... only had about 10 topics. Then they got a bit unwieldy. Pinterest REALLY helped things along when they introduced the ability to search within your own pins but hey, that only helps if I used good tagging/captioning! I go back and delete pins sometimes. I want to keep the number reasonable and only the best of the best ideas that I hope I get to use at some point!

Monday, January 20, 2014

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Slow reading week as we had a late PTA night and a couple days where I just came home after school and crashed cause I was so tired. Didn't finish anything but a couple magazines and then got further into ...

The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck. Actually my e-checkout of that book timed out. This is so awkward ... I'm not loving much of our state award list next year. How do I fake enthusiasm for books I'm not excited about? Or also why is it I'm not excited but everyone else is? #questions
When I can check it out again I will finish it cause that could make a big difference.

I want to finish Ungifted and Hollywood, Dead Ahead cause I've been partway through those for a while. Liked them ... just keep getting distracted by other titles!

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. I have to admit I almost gave up on this one ... was having trouble following things. But then I kept listening (can't really say "stuck with it" as it was more than anything it was laziness about taking the CD out of the car and finding something else) and now it's getting to where I WANT to listen longer.

If I get to it Codename Zero by Chris Rylander will be my next one.

So TCEA is coming up. I am tagging along with two MS (Google certified!) and HS librarians to present on Google in your LMC. Right now I feel like I'm not adding much. Hopefully that will change! Do you have an idea? A way that you use Google that makes your life easier or something run more smoothly in your library or really catches your students' attention? Please share. We'll credit you in the presentation for sure! And when the presentation site is live (well ... OK. It's live now but it's not done so no sharing the site for at least a week! And when I DO share ... head's up that I might need to ... well. The Google certified librarian talks above my head a good portion of the time and while I'm NOT as knowledgeable as I'm sometimes given credit for? I do know that some of what she says makes more sense to me than others. So I will "translate" in later blog posts, if you get my drift. If nothing else I can add that to the presentation. ;)

Sunday, January 19, 2014

I got a color Nook back when they were pretty new ... when the only other "tablet" was an iPad. It was super nice for traveling and at the time you couldn't get Overdrive books any other way. Never got my money's worth out of it, though. And the slow Internet speed drove me batty. So then what makes no sense was I was very naughty on Black Friday and bought myself a Kindle Fire HD. I love that E-ARCS from Netgalley and Edelweiss won't time out on me now. And it's easier cause I don't have to deal with a USB cord. And like over the holiday break ... I was tired of waiting for the library copy of the new Pendergast novel to come in so I downloaded it. And bonus it was on sale so it was only $6.50. Ebooks are not always cheaper than the hard copy book and buying for the library is different. But it was so nice to not have to leave my couch!

When I was exercising well I downloaded audiobooks to my phone all the time. Then Overdrive did some strange update where nothing worked and that got me off my groove. Also I got sick. Finally just completely reinstalled Overdrive and it's working again.

I need to promote our district collection more with our campus, though. I got a grant to get the classrooms mp3 players to download for Daily 5 time and then the vendor stopped carrying the kid friendly ones I wanted to order. So now I have to look for a new devices. Any suggestions? I don't really want to do the iPod route because if you don't own one it's not necessarily easy. I want something the least tech savvy teacher could use in their classroom (cause of licensing they have to do the downloading ... I can't do it for them and heavens, couldn't for all of them).

I made these to start some more active advertising. They're not perfect but they're a start for now. Print out the signs and put them in a frame then add color copies of book covers you own digitally to the blank area (that way you can change out the advertised books). Click here to get the easy peasy pdf file.

So ... went looking for some bookmarks Friday and couldn't find them anywhere. Or, all I could find was a TERRIBLE preview pic of them on the blog (how embarrassing!) and then no FILE with the pic (worse!). So I made them over again here for your downloading pleasure. If you like them/can use them or anything.

Abraham Lincoln book quote (Google Drive ... use the Google File-->Download menu to download a copy)

(And of course TODAY when I look a decent copy was easy to find on the blog (but why the Google drive search didn't work I still don't understand but anyway). So if you want Scrappin' Doodles instead of Melonheadz go here.)

Black History Month Quote Mini-Posters (freebie download on TPT)

Now I'm paranoid and need to go back and check if other little mini-signs or bookmark links or preview pics are messed up. Won't get done today but it will get done. If you ever notice one let me know, would you? Maybe that will be my Throwback Thursday goal for a while. Pick one thing to double check/freshen up.

I have a list of books for Black History Month here. It's FAR from comprehensive and more than a little Kadir Nelson heavy. Any suggestions to add? The post is getting some attention on Pinterest at the moment so I'd like to make the best possible. Keep people around and all.

First of all you probably already know about Deb's blog. But if you don't, go there. Always shares great reviews of the books and some fun little insights into living abroad! I enjoy it immensely.

Now. 11 facts you may not know about me. Or maybe you do:

1) I might have mentioned this, I can't remember. I speak Spanish! Not perfectly like I'd ever be mistaken for native but I get along. Comes from HS, college, and 18 months doing service work for my church with mainly Hispanic people in CA. I speak it fairly often living in South Texas. ;)

2) If I still practiced I'd be like Sherlock. I play the violin. Went to music camp and played in orchestras for a long time. Miss playing with a big group!

3) I'm an aunt of 10 ... 6 nieces and 4 nephews. Sister of 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Daughter of Mom and Dad. Only parents live close. At least them but :( on everyone else being far away.

4) I love 80s music. a-ha is my favorite! They had several other awesome songs after Take on Me. That was NOT the only one!

5) I love to collect recipes and crafty ideas. I don't love to cook or make most of them. Perfectionist.

6) I've been to British Columbia, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, England, France, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, and one day in Morocco. I need another trip! Even though beforehand I stress out like no other. "Did I pack enough? Did I pack too much? Did I remember this? Or that?"

7) And related to number 6 ... oh my word do I get lost easily. NO sense of direction. At all. Like it's ridiculous and makes me late for things or miss things entirely or not even try to go cause I'm nervous about getting lost.

8) All of my family summer vacations were spent in the small town in Idaho where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed. That's where my parents grew up and my grandparents lived.

2) Recent procrastination I need to deal with ... some things that are falling behind at work. Collaboration. You have to actively work for it and with feeling yucky some of that has been pushed to the back burner. Survive instead of thrive mode, you know?

3) Last time I laughed out loud was the other day. Kid quote: "Miss, why does your hair look so crazy?" and the same day "Why is your nose so red?" Before that it was my nieces and nephews over Christmas. Too adorable.

4) Movie that has stuck with me ... harder. Movies are a favorite. I tend to go more for action and fantasy than drama. I guess ... the LOTR trilogy. Samwise Gamgee's speech about the great stories and there being some good in the world. For a movie (to be fair book, but anyway) TWO to manage that kind of power ... that's something.

5) I need to read more non-fic. I'm getting better but more would teach me things! And more early chapter books. Picture books, middle grade, YA? Got those fairly decently covered. But early chapter? Not my fave so I don't always.

6) What makes a book 5 of 5 stars? If love it and I feel like the book's targeted audience will also love it (those two don't always go together). When the writing and turns of phrase just amaze me and make me wish I could write my own stories.

7) I wish I could be braver about people. I get nervous and then can't think of anything to say. I have a couple of blog friends for which I am so thankful! Open to more ... just nervous about making first contacts. TCEA is coming up. I would love to make more personal connections. Not just go, stay in my own bubble, then come home.

8) EEK! Personal style? What would someone call it? I'm not sure. My style was much better when my body was more in shape. Clinton and Stacy were my gurus. But hey. Allergy shots so I can breathe and I'll exercise more and I'll get back into those cute clothes. We'll say Converse Chucks and you can probably guess the rest of my current style. :P

10) How do I give back to my community? You know ... that's something I could do more of. I don't regularly volunteer at any soup kitchens or shelter. Don't do anything at the public library in the summer. I know one doesn't have to do any of that. But I think it would be nice. Sometimes it feels like I'm so wrapped up in school that IS my community service. But it's not.

11) If I had only one book I could share with a group of students it would be ... right now it would be The One and Only Ivan. I have such a personal connection to it. No picture proof ... but memories of visits to his sad mall domicile.

Here's the hardest part. I'm not sure who to tag. WHAT IF THEY SAID NO? OR just didn't ever do it? Then I'd feel silly. And I know ... THAT is silly.

My 11 questions:

1) favorite candy

2) favorite Star Wars or Harry Potter or LOTR or Pride and Prejudice or Anne of Green Gables character (hopefully at least one of them you like! if not feel free to add a character from somewhere else) and why

Monday, January 13, 2014

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Poached ... a sequel to Belly Up! Fun. I'll write a little more when the release date gets closer. If you haven't read Belly Up yet read that first. You've got until April. Upper elementary or middle. Just the teeniest bit of language. I'm pretty sensitive to that so be aware ... also know, though, that it is hilarious! This one not quite so but still very good.

Hidden Girl ... not my usual fare but sadly interesting. Seems like it should be a TV show. But it's not. It was her life.

The Magician's Elephant ... audiobook for the WIN!

You'll notice one I mentioned last week is NOT on here. Flora & Ulysses. As I mentioned on Goodreads ... I could not get "in" to that one. Abandoned it (well, my ebook checkout timed out or I might have kept at it and tried to finish because it's on our state list for next year) because ... I didn't like it. In fact disliked what I got through of it. Blame it on the cedar, I guess. :/

Or the very strange story. But I liked Magician's Elephant. And that one was strange, too!

This week I'm attempting a bit more of the second Mysterious Benedict Society as an audiobook. So far it's been confusing to follow as I drive.

Then I need to finish these that I started before Christmas!

And I have an ebook checkout of The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck. Have to get going on that one ... it's so hard to remember ebooks when they're not stacked on the bedside table super visible.

So. Will be starting allergy shots next week. Three times a week. I foresee more reading and mobile blogging in my future. But hey. If it works? Worth it.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Oh. A whole week went by. It was a long week. But on Monday I spent three hours at the allergist and he listened more than the general practice doctor ever did. So maybe in the future you will not hear so much whining and I will feel better. That would be a win-win! :P ;)

To district ed tech who keep making comments to the effect of washing their hands of the effort to get a reliable internet (both lab and classroom wireless) connection working in an older school (while all the while touting to the rest of the district 21st Century Learning...

I don't really do pink. But I want to do this in some sort of color!

I love the color combos on this site.

I tend to kill plants. And out here at my new house there are so many deer I'm not sure how much landscaping we'll really be able to do in the spring. But I love the tiered look of this.

I need to do this! Only ... not sure how to attach them to the shelves. Stuff with tape falls off. Stuff with glue ... kiddos pick at. :P

PS I will be posting about a fun blog award I was given earlier this week. Sometime tomorrow or Saturday. Do you want to be highlighted. I'm just not good at asking people things. Would you answer questions? Let me know. ;)

Monday, January 6, 2014

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Loved the art ... though for the longest time I thought it was Steve Jenkins. Then realized nope, someone else.
The poetry ... well. Some I liked and some I did not. It was hard to read. I kept going back and trying to find some rhythm to the rhyme scheme.

OOOH. Loads of adventure and intrigue. Is it completely believable? No. Does it have to be? Nope!
I'll be back for book #2. And will get a copy for our school library for sure. Fourth and fifth graders may not have ever heard of Copernicus or Magellan but maybe this will get them curious.
The storyline is more complicated than most of what I've read of Abbott's work before so this won't be a 2nd/3rd grade read.

Can't wait to share this with some kiddos. Our library copy finally came in just before the break and ... I stole it for the break. ;) They're getting it back next week, though!
And this TOTALLY made me want to go back to Costa Rica. Spent a spring break there a couple years back and it was awesome. Horseback riding. White water rafting. Zip-lining. Loads of picture taking opportunities. Not my usual at all but actually so fun!

I got tired of waiting for the library copy so I finally just downloaded it to my Kindle. AWESOME. I felt cold as the Colorado mountainside was described. Or "steely glints" from various characters. Already left wanting for the next Pendergast.

That said, I could have done without all the uses of "mother f_________" as I do not think it conveys any more to the character's motivations or feelings than other less crass vocab. Characters were ugly before they used the language. I might be alone in that.

Coming Up
Since it's harder to get to the "big city" library (and I'm terrible but with family last week and rotten allergies this week I haven't gone to get my smaller city card ... insert face of shame here) I am sure I will be reading more galleys and ebooks in the future.

I'm almost done with Lindsay Leavitt's Going Vintage. I already have The Lost Treasure of Tuckernuck and Flora and Ulysses checked out. We'll see what else happens!

Saturday, January 4, 2014

A Tech Tip
Hmmm. Internet, what are things you do not know? Things that you could use ... simplified? There are so many tutorials out there on a bazillion topics. And what's hard for some is easy for others and vice versa.

I guess for today I'll start pretty easy because it's Saturday and I'm just not feeling something more complicated yet ... but if you've got a request please comment and I'll put it on the blog post list! I didn't know this for the longest time so maybe you didn't either?

If you are going to be adding anything besides text. And I mean ANYTHING besides text ... borders, frames, photos, clip art, etc. Or even just text but in a different layout than the standard five paragraph start at the top and fill in to the bottom of the page type text ... then for the love of all that is simplifying your life DO NOT try to make said document or flyer or what have you in Word. The formatting will drive you INSANE because you move an element 2 mm to the right and it messes everything up. And then you are sad and try to move it back and it moves something else on the page in an entirely different direction. Then you start pulling hair out.

Use Powerpoint. Or Keynote. Or even Google Presentations. You can move all elements around, layer them in front of or behind each other, and where you put stuff? It stays put! It's amazing. Mind blown?

You're welcome.

Need screenshots to help you visualize? This blogger has already done a great job so I am not going to reinvent the wheel today. Maybe I'm going to see Saving Mr. Banks instead of even finding an image to add to this post. Oh and grocery shopping for school lunches. Which is not as fun.

This challenge came from Cybrarian Jen at Where Books and Technology Meet. I won't be doing them all straight through but you'll see at least a couple pop up a week.

Friday, January 3, 2014

I don't have this yet. But I might get it. Totally bought her blank templates collection with the intention of doing something exactly like this and then didn't. :P

This made me laugh. Not as much as the Happy Face Seal but it made me laugh all the same.

Love.

I wanted to order this SO MUCH. But I didn't. Cause I wasn't sure where it would go. Isn't it lovely? I wanted the hydrangeas, too.

I quit watching this show a couple seasons back. Still thought this was funny.

May take me through February to actually get it done (have a feeling January will be concentrating on the TCEA presentation ... just co-presenting and not even the one who came up with the idea but still ... I can feel the nerves coming on already) but we'll see. Some good ideas for reflection here.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

I only saw part of the special (and have never been to Las Vegas) but it's kind of fun to hear his take on these older songs. Some I like less than the original but still think it's fun to hear. Some I like just as much. Some I like even more!

Found the boxes of books in storage (note to the world ... 1)Don't ever accumulate enough stuff that you need to get a storage unit; and 2)If you do ... LABEL BOXES. LABEL THEM WELL.) and they are on the shelves. But they're not ... arranged yet. Here's a "shelfie" tease that will make me look like a geek but oh well. Embrace it, right? ;) The other shelves will take longer. But there will be an HP shelf. And a Mo Willems shelf. And an Anne of Green Gables shelf. That much I know.

Things are starting to come together. Heavens, though ... there are still so many boxes and bags of packing paper that are hard to get rid of out here (no recycling :().

I've seen Frozen and the Hobbit. But of "holiday" flicks that's about it. I still need to see Catching Fire and Saving Mr. Banks and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Planning food. That has to be better this year. (When I find my menu board we'll start there ... it got "made" over the summer and then packed away during the house showing period.)

I'm LDS so anything more has never been a part of my traditions. But that's what my family has called sparkling cider for years and years and years. Holidays and special occasions? Pop THAT top.

No special reason it's number one other than it's a school library copy and I want to finish it so I can get a kid to read it next week! Love a good mystery. Back to reading. Or since the weird tingly pinkies are back maybe arranging bookshelves. Or the movies? We'll see. Just a couple more days of freedom left!

PS As soon as I get the allergies a little better under control (this not taking ANYTHING before testing MIGHT KILL ME) I will post a bit about #runteacherrun. Last year I ran a 5K first thing on 1/1. Then did really well for three weeks. Then got appendicitis. And ... even though I recovered without complications I just seemed to be behind and out of my groove and while there were some good spurts here and there as a whole the rest of the year was a wash. So here's to the groove back. #RUNTEACHERRUN

Here's an update for last year's little project, though without pics of student work because of course I can't find them. :P

"So I saw some of those little flip book things on Pinterest and started playing around with making one Library-Centric.... Not much to it but if you want just the part I can share ... click on the pic and download the pdf! My Own Topher font from Kevin and Amanda."

We cut out the numbers with the school die cut though of course kiddos would love to design their own. This will be sort of a passive station ... we'll see how it goes. Stations haven't ever worked out too well (ignored, mostly ... or forgotten because I got distracted and didn't get them back out after having to put them away every day) but I'm going to try. Mostly because between a third grade research project and prep for an author visit and TCEA (co-presenting this year and not even the main one so that's good!) in early February I don't know that there will be time to do a full on lesson activity.

Click here for a printable PDF. Kids need a bit of reminding, though, that they write their answers below the printing, fold the top OVER, and cut on top dotted lines. That way the "2" flap opens up to whichever prompt you choose.